The Truth About the Border Crisis

It’s time to have a straight talk about what’s really going on with the current immigration crisis. We’ve all seen the images of rooms stuffed full of “kids” in that 6-12 year old age range that somehow miraculously managed to travel across half a continent all by themselves only to hearken at our doorstep seeking asylum. These are the “official” images that are meant to slip out of these facilities. However, there’s always an alternate reality involved when unofficial images are banned from also slipping out. A bit of fact checking reveals what’s truly going on.

According to Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst only between 12-20% of those currently being detained fall into the category of “unaccompanied minor” status that we’re being led to believe make up the overwhelming bulk of those currently showing up at our border. Furthermore, according to PEW Research of those “minors” 90% are actually teenagers. That translates into the reality of the images we are being spoon fed by the media only representing somewhere between 1 and 2% of the true crisis. It’s no wonder they don’t want any real images coming out of those camps. To make matters worse roughly 25% of those that are currently being detained in those camps have criminal records in their country of origin. It’s also no wonder nobody wants to see those white windowless DHS buses pulling up in their community.

In typical Democratic fashion Obama’s political allies have put forth a bill to supposedly solve the crisis. Their “resolution” involves an additional $4.3 Billion in funds to handle the situation. However, for those that have actually bothered to read the bill the first thing that pops out is that only $25 Million (less than 1%) of the proposed funding is even slated to be spent this year. The rest is nothing more than a glorified back ended slush fund for liberal causes that has nothing to do with fixing anything (reminiscent of the $ Trillion stimulus package that did little more than stimulate liberal politicians).

Unlike many of the other scandals of this Administration (i.e. IRS, VA, Fast & Furious, Benghazi, etc) this one in particular can easily be traced directly back to Obama and his own actions. What’s currently going on at our border didn’t happen by chance, but rather by invitation. It was completely orchestrated by this administration as an effort to push an amnesty bill to the forefront as per his earlier promise. Obama figured that by creating a humanitarian crisis Congress would have no choice but to cave on immigration reform. What Obama didn’t count on in his political calculation was either the public backlash he’s now receiving or the horrific optics of having dead kids floating in the Rio Grande. Yes, having abandoned kids showing up at our doorstep is a humanitarian crisis, but it’s also a man made crisis of pure political convenience. There is no debating that Obama has blood on his hands this time.

The liberal talking point on the subject of immigration has always been that we’ve all come here either directly or by the proxy of our ancestors via immigration. Therefore, to deny others such an opportunity is hypocritical. However, just because I need a drink of water doesn’t mean that I’m now required to leave the faucet running forever, lest it create a mess. The same holds true as a nation. Just because there was a time when we needed and could handle as many immigrants as we could get our hands on that doesn’t mean the immigration tap needs to be perpetually left turned in the wide open position. Our existing immigration laws still welcome immigrants here with open arms, just in a practical manner that doesn’t leave a big mess.

Our role as a nation isn’t to solve all the world’s problems. That would be both logically and mathematically impossible. Instead it’s to be as President Reagan put it “a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom loving people everywhere.” In other words we aren’t supposed to fix the problems of others. We’re supposed to be the example used by others to fix things for themselves. To repurpose a famous quote, our role as a nation isn’t to provide a fish for others. It’s to teach them how to fish for themselves. Obama’s current political strategy isn’t meant to teach anyone how to fish. It’s only meant to use innocent children as bait.